


Aftermath

by brohne



Category: Thief (Video Games)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-07-21
Packaged: 2018-02-09 03:20:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1967061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brohne/pseuds/brohne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little more closure for the end of the game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

[](http://s369.photobucket.com/user/brohne_photos/media/Bassohug.jpg.html)

Basso struggled to right the shelving. He figured he’d left it long enough. He needed to get back to work and he couldn’t do that when his office was still a wreck. The shelving swayed drunkenly and after a moment collapsed.

“Burrick’s balls! This is shit!” He kicked at the pile of boards. “I hope that Thief-Taker General gets what’s coming to him. I’m not about to pay another coin in Black Tax at this rate.”

“I don’t know about him, but I think that shelf has finally bit the dust.”

“Garrett!” Basso swung around to see the thief standing at the foot of the stairs. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you since you got back from Moira…”

Garrett ducked his head, the hood hiding his features. Basso frowned.

“Eh well come on in … I could use a hand tidying up the place. Unless you’ve come for a job?”

There was no answer and Basso finally looked up from where he’d started picking up books. Garrett hadn’t moved, his head still down. Basso let the books drop back to the floor and walked over to him.

“Garrett?”

The thief twitched and raised his head slightly. Basso took a few steps toward him and stopped as the smell of stagnant water and sludge washed over him.

“You alright … and why do you smell like someone dunked you in the river?”

Garrett shuddered and Basso realized he was shivering.

“Ah fuck Garrett, hang on.”

It took him a moment but he found a blanket that wasn’t either stained or full of holes. Garrett didn’t move as he wrapped it around his shoulders and he finally took the thief by the arm and led him over to the bed, kicking debris out of the way. Garrett didn’t protest as Basso had him sit.

Basso stood staring down at Garrett unsure what to do. It had been two days since he’d last seen him and he looked worse than ever. Other than the rumors going around he wasn’t even fully sure what had happened. He knew the Graven had attacked Dayport and Auldale, ransacking the Baron’s manor and killing every Watchman they came across. He leaned against his desk watching as Garrett fiddled with a loose string on the edge of the blanket.

“You eaten?”

Garrett started to nod then shook his head. Basso grunted and turned to take a piece of leftover bread off his plate.

“Here.”

Garrett took it and held it in his hands. Basso sighed and decided that once Garrett was ready, he would talk. In the meantime he would go back to cleaning. By the time he was done picking up the scattered books Garrett had eaten most of the roll and was watching him. Basso didn’t like the flat look in his eyes. Even when he’d first seen him a couple of weeks ago he’d been livelier than this. Basso cleared his throat but Garrett spoke before he could.

“I found Erin.”

“You found…? She’s alive.”

Garrett nodded, his fingers twisting the corner of the blanket. “Orion had her.”

“What?!” Basso quickly lowered his voice at the flinch. “Shit Garrett, if I’d had any idea…”

“He was using her to try and cure the gloom.”

Basso narrowed his eyes. “Umm … okay. Not sure how that works but okay.”

Garrett shook his head. “It’s hard to explain but it had to do with that stone you wanted us to get…”

“Well shit. You mean all this happened because of that stone.”

Garrett finally looked up at him and Basso was astonished to see the pain in Garrett’s eyes. “No, it happened because I made a mistake and did something I shouldn’t have.”

He looked down again and after a moment pulled something out of the holster on his right leg. He held it up for Basso to look at.

“She made this.” He pressed something and the claws extended. Basso let out a low whistle. “She was so proud of it, but then she went and used it to kill a guard.”

“Oh.”

Garrett sighed and pressed the switch again, the claws retracting. “I stole it from her.”

“Well that’s kinda what you do.”

“She wouldn’t have fallen if she’d had it and none of this would have happened.”

Basso sighed and scratched his head. A snarky Garrett he could handle, but this wasn’t anything he was really used to dealing with. He sat down next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. Garrett didn’t shrug him off or pull away which worried Basso more than anything.

“Listen Garrett. You don’t do things rashly. You had a damn good reason for taking that thing from her. What happened that night is not your fault. How were you to know that any of that was going to happen? There’s nothing you could have done. Now get up, you’re sopping wet and getting my bed dirty.”

Garrett frowned at him. Basso just smiled.

“Come on, let’s get you a hot meal and a warm bath and then you can tell me just what the hell you’ve been doing for the past couple of days.”


	2. Healing

[](http://s369.photobucket.com/user/brohne_photos/media/garrettsick3.jpg.html)  
Basso held up the newspaper just in time to shield himself from a sneeze. He lowered it to peer over the top at Garrett. Garrett sniffed and rubbed at his eyes. Basso glowered for a moment before pulling out a handkerchief and waving it at the thief.

“I told you. I told you, you were going to get sick if you didn’t take care of yourself.”

“I did what you said.”

“Taking a cold bath in that drafty clock tower and eating salted pork is not taking care of yourself. I told you I could have gotten you a nice warm bath and food.”

Garrett shook his head and started to say something when a hacking cough interrupted him. Basso sighed.

“I told you. No jobs, Garrett. Not till you are better. And by better I mean gaining weight and not looking like a walking skeleton.”

“I don’t—”

“You haven’t looked in a mirror have you? You look worse than you did when you first showed up. How you managed to lose more weight, I’ll never know.” Basso grabbed for the thief as he swayed on his feet. “Dammit Garrett sit down. How did you even get here anyway?”

“Carefully.”

“Yeah.” Basso frowned. He could feel the heat radiating off Garrett. “Maybe I should call Dr. Troy. You are burning up.”

“No. I’m fine. Let go.”

“Garrett I don’t think, whoa hey—” Basso grabbed Garrett as he crumpled toward the floor. “Shit.”

Basso let out a groan as he realized the thief was out cold.

“You really should have listened to me.”

Dragging the unconscious man over to the bed he laid Garrett down. He started to cover him with a blanket, then thought better of it. Instead he went and got a rag and a bowl. Filling the bowl with cool rain water he soaked the rag then laid it over Garrett’s forehead. He debated on whether or not he should see if Dr. Troy had anything to help. Though after the so-called cures the man had been selling to cure the Gloom Basso wasn’t sure he trusted him to actually know what he was doing. Anyone who would try to profit off of people’s suffering like that wasn’t someone to be trusted. Above all he needed to make sure no one realized the master thief was vulnerable. There were too many people who’d only be too happy to cash in the bounty on his head. No, it was best to keep Garrett here where he could keep an eye on him.

Also probably best to get him out of all the leather. It took quite a while for him to figure out just how the outfit went together but eventually he had Garrett down to his cotton undershirt and pants. His shirt was soaked with sweat and Basso considered removing it but decided against it. Storing the outfit and equipment in a trunk he went to find some fresh water and see if he couldn’t work at getting the fever down.

Basso barely slept the next couple of days. Garrett drifted in and out of sleep. His cough grew worse but his fever broke late on the second day. Basso set the plate of food and cup of water next to the bed. Garrett was asleep but had been restless, tossing and turning in his sleep and mumbling. Basso watched him for a moment before letting out a sigh and going over to his desk. He’d managed to keep the other blackhands out of the basement but people were starting to ask questions.

Garrett coughed again and there was a soft groan. Basso glanced over his shoulder to see Garrett trying to sit up. He set down the letter he’d been reading and went to help him. The thief didn’t look quite as pale as he had previously.

“Hey.”

Garrett frowned at him for a moment. “What happened?”

“You’ve been out of it for two days. You’ve been sick.”

Garrett looked around the room and pushed himself back against the headboard. “I … I thought I was dreaming.”

“Well you seemed to do plenty of that. Here you need to eat something. I barely got you to wake up much less eat.” Basso handed the plate over. Garrett took it and set it on the blanket. “You might want to think about taking it easy for a while Garrett. I don’t know what all happened but I know you’ve been through a lot.”

Garrett nodded slowly. “She almost killed me. She wanted to. Kept saying it was my fault. That I let her go.”

Garrett raised a trembling hand and rubbed at his temple. His voice was soft when he spoke again and Basso had to lean down to catch what he was saying.

“I didn’t realize … I didn’t know … she thought I didn’t care. She thought I was there to kill her. To finish the job.” Garrett’s head dropped down and Basso started to reach out but paused as Garrett took a breath. “She told me to finish it. Why would she say that? I just wanted to help her.”

Basso frowned and waited but Garrett didn’t say anything else just sat staring at the food.

“You did Garrett. She’s alive. Now eat that and I’ll get you something else. And there is no rush. You stay as long as you need to.”

He turned back to his desk and was startled to hear Garrett’s soft ‘thank you.’

Finally done sorting through the various jobs and notes he turned to ask Garrett how he was feeling. The thief was asleep sitting up the empty plate still on his lap. Basso sighed a small smile pulling at his mouth. At least he’d eaten more this time. Walking over he took the plate and gently shook Garrett’s shoulder. Garrett blinked up at him, his eyes unfocused.

“Lay down.”

Basso pulled the blanket up over him as Garrett shifted down curling on his side. He was back asleep within moments. Looking down at him Basso wished there was more he could do. Not that Garrett would let him. At least the worrying was over. The last couple of weeks had been hard. It had been such a shock to see Garrett again after a year of believing him dead. He wasn’t sure what was harder though, thinking the man dead or watching him nearly kill himself chasing a ghost. A not so dead ghost. Basso shook his head a sad smile on his face.

“It’s good to have you back.”

Thank you to anachrophobian for the gorgeous art.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to plintoon for the lovely artwork.


End file.
